just hooked up a new pair of m80ti's.
a) i notice in the owner's manual that there are no general suggestions as to placement in the room.
has anybody there got some generic suggestions about placement?
(or better yet, is there an in-depth web-page discussion somewhere?)
pls advise.

b) on some material - female vocals in particular - the m80s sound somewhat "forward". is there a peak in the midrange on the m80? (or was there a dip in the midrange on your old ax2's, my previous speakers?)

Congratulations on the purchase of your M80's. I have been using them myself since they were first designed. In fact when the first final designed pair were brought down to my house for thorough listening I did not send them back! Details of placement is something we are working on right now for both the web site and the manual. The web site one will be very detailed when it goes up on the site. In the mean time if you would like to fax a sketch of your room to the factory at 705-635-1972 attention David Aitchison, he would be happy to fax you back our exact suggestion for your room. For a more generic answer, if you follow the guildline of creating, as close as your room will allow, an equilateral triangle from your favourite listening position to each of the speakers you will be sounding pretty good.

In answer to your second point it gets a bit technical. One of the design parameters of Axiom products is the flatest possible amplitude response in the widest possible array of both on and off axis response measurements. What you are hearing in the mid range between the old AX2 and the new M80 is the stellar off axis response of the M80s'. Both of these models have very flat on axis responses but since the M80 will maintain that flat response in wide off axis performance also you are actually receiving more all around mid range energy from the M80s'. Further to this point, it is not just about the amount of mid range energy but also the perceived mid range imaging, as the first reflections arriving at your listening position are more acurate.

I've heard the M80s and right now one of our reviewers have them. They have some serious output capability so this is one speaker that can benefit from being farther away from walls. However, before I go into all that you may wish to check one of our sites -- www.onhifi.com -- look under the Features section. Wes Phillips wrote a 3-part article on loudspeaker and room placement with some very useful tips.